About Robert

Robert Nathan is an award-winning television producer, screenwriter, journalist, and novelist. He has been associated with several of television’s most celebrated series, including the Law & Order franchise and ER, for both of which he was a member of the original staff. In the 27-year history of Law & Order and its sequels, Nathan’s episode “Manhood” holds the only Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. For his work on ER he received the industry’s coveted George Foster Peabody Award.

He made his feature film debut as a director with Lucky Bastard, called “a deft cautionary tale” by the Los Angeles Times and “compelling” by Los Angeles Weekly. As a journalist Nathan has been a regular contributor to The New York Times Book Review and has written for many magazines, including The New Republic, Harper’s, and The Nation. He was New York bureau chief, White House correspondent, and a weekend anchor for NPR’s nightly newsmagazine All Things Considered.

In television Nathan has been under contract to develop television series for Warner Bros., NBC Universal, Twentieth Century Fox, and Paramount. His credits include Executive Producer, showrunner, Law & Order: Criminal Intent; Consulting Producer, FX’s Dirt; Consulting Producer, USA’s Fairly Legal, Executive Producer, showrunner, ABC’s Women’s Murder Club; Co-Executive Producer, NBC’s ER; Executive Producer, showrunner, co-creator, NBC’s Prince Street; Executive Produce, showrunner, CBS’s The Client; and Co-Executive Producer, Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU. For Paramount Television he was Executive Producer of James Ellroy’s L.A. Sheriff’s Homicide. For Lifetime Television, he was Executive Producer of the pilot Criminal Minds.

Nathan has received four Emmy nominations as a producer, an Edgar Award nomination from the Mystery Writers of America, the GLAAD Media Award, the Silver Gavel Award, the Shine Award, and a Humanitas Award nomination. Nathan is the author of four novels, including the political thriller The White Tiger, a New York Times “Notable Book of the Year” published in seventeen languages. The Times called the book “dazzling.” Le Figaro called it “absolutely remarkable.” As half of the thriller-writing team published under the pseudonym Nicholas Condé, he is co-author of three novels, including The Religion, filmed by John Schlesingeras The Believers.

Mr. Nathan currently has three television series in development.

Course Description

Studio 4’s Screenwriting Master Class is designed to recreate the environment of a television “writers room.” Students will collaborate on an outline for a season of an existing DRAMA series, creating a season arc for individual episodes. Four-time Emmy nominee and Peabody Award winner Robert Nathan will address overall structure, character arcs, scene construction, dialogue, and elements of narrative technique. At the end of the 12-week course, all students will have completed one episodic teleplay within the class’s newly created season arc that each student will be able to use as a spec teleplay to forward their screenwriting career.

Prospective students complete an application and submit a 15-page writing sample of a teleplay or feature.

This class is limited to 8 students. Selected applicants will be notified immediately upon acceptance.

The series will be determined by the students in the application process.

Class Meetings

All classes will meet in Manhattan the following dates:

Tuesdays, from 6-9 PM, starting March 7, 2017

*Subject to change based on Mr. Nathan's availability

Cost

$500for Non-Studio 4 students (anyone that is NOT enrolled in the 2-year Meisner program at Studio 4)

$475 for Studio 4 students CONCURRENTLY enrolled in the 2-year Meisner Technique classes during the course of this class. If a student withdraws from their Meisner courses, they must pay the Non-Studio 4 student rate.

*Once enrolled, there are no refunds.

Applications

APPLICATION DEADLINE: Friday, February 17, 2017 - 11:59 PM

Writers MUST be able to submit a 15-page writing sample of a teleplay or feature as part of the application process.